ASGA May Teatime: Benefits and Realities of Solar Grazing, A Checklist for Shepherds and Solar Companies
How can shepherds and solar companies understand each other’s basic requirements and seal the deal?
Join us to hear about the updated “Solar Grazing Checklist for Shepherds and Solar Sites Mangers” from our friends in Vermont, who designed the checklist to help graziers and site operators understand each other’s positions. The conversation will be led by Alex DePillis from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets and Kimberly Hagen, the Grazing Specialist at the Center for Sustainable Agriculture at UVM Extension. They’ll go over the checklist, provide examples, and talk about the challenges faced by both graziers and site operators.
Following their short presentation, the second half of the Teatime will be dedicated to a Q&A with solar site operators and shepherds, who will discuss best practices for grazing to manage vegetation in the Northeast.
Hosts: Kevin Richardson (ASGA) , ASGA Outreach Coordinator, and Stacie Peterson from the AgriSolar Clearing House and Energy Program Director at the National Center for Appropriate Technology .
About the Speakers:
Alex DePillis has been developing clean energy projects and policies in public service and in the private sector since 1993. In public service, he has developed renewable energy policies and programs and administered grant programs. At the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, he helps farmers and solar developers develop agrivoltaic projects. He also has a regulatory role in Vermont’s statewide energy-siting process to review solar energy projects for their impact on farmland.
Kimberly Hagen is the Grazing Specialist at the Center for Sustainable Agriculture at UVM Extension. Kimberly joined the Center for Sustainable Agriculture in February 2012 to provide technical assistance and support for grass-based farms: for those already immersed in the practices, those planning to transition, and everything in between. Kimberly spent several years working on all kinds of farms around the world, finally returning to Vermont where she has been raising sheep, chickens, horses and the occasional cow, on her own grass-based farm since 1987, and providing agricultural education and outreach for NOFA to communities and schools.
